Abilene Zoo in Texas is the only zoo in its region. It experiences incredible market penetration, but is still a small, municipal parks department zoo—20 acres and 250k visitors. With potential land to grow and new adjacent attractions opening soon, the zoo is poised to grow into a large facility.

Frank Buck Zoo is a small zoo in a small town. Although today the zoo is experiencing a massive market penetration, the zoo’s lack of identity and differentiation means future success is dependent on creating strong repeatable experiences for it’s local / regional resident visitors.

The Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, Texas is a large ‘small’ zoo located in a small town. Drawing 250,000 in annual attendance from a drive time of about 1.5 hours, the family zoo is a great example of the best of small zoos—lovingly and thoughtfully designed using a blend of modern, innovative zoo design techniques with clean, timeless designs and light touches of theming set in a lush landscape with water features. A timeless, beautiful zoo borne from love—and a desire to be a community asset.

The 20-acre private zoo tucked into the hillside on the outskirts of growing Austin, Texas metro has plenty of challenges to tackle, but the beauty of the site and its proximity to Austin (and being the only zoo within an easy drive of the city) means the Zoo has almost unlimited untapped potential to become very successful—and a “weird” little gemstone to the community.

I was lucky to attend (and present at) The International Zoo Design Conference held in Poland in 2017. Many speakers from around the world talked about their experiences designing habitats or theorizing on the future of zoos and aquariums. While the majority of attendees were from Europe, folks from South America, Africa, and many countries in Asia presented their unique points of view. Although the theme was "Designing for Enrichment," four much deeper lessons held with me for continued thought and on-going discussion for the continued evolution of zoos and aquariums around the world. In this article originally posted to Blooloop.com, I explain those four take-aways:

Euro & American Zoos are Cousins, branching from the same ancestor like an evolutionary tree.

Dynamism as a new goal and design inspiration in everything habitat related.

Rethink the measure and definition of success for species in captivity.

Guests require that zoos care for the their animals as priority one, but often do not understand what good animal care is.

I hear it over and over again.The same conversation that inevitably goes something like this…Zoology and landscape architecture?Well, those don’t have anything to do with each other!What do you do?I respond, Zoo design. Their face bares an expression of shock and dismay, ultimately giving way to a smile.I await this continuation…Well, there must not be much of a calling for that profession, eh!Uncomfortable laughter.I smile politely and respond, Actually, if you think about it, most zoos (not to mention aquariums and theme parks) are regularly undergoing some sort of construction, and when they aren’t, they usually are planning for something new.Someone’s gotta do all that work, especially when you consider there are more than 100 accredited zoos across the U.S. alone.Add in the non-accredited, the aquaria and the theme parks, plus think about the rest of the world!There’s plenty of work to do.Not enough folks to do it, actually.

And that leads me here.I’m hoping to educate and learn.I hope to reach those people that never thought there were such people as us.I hope to reach students that have an idea that they want to do this, but have no idea how to get there (just like me when I started school).I hope to reach people that need resources, but can’t find them.I hope to reach those that have resources to share.I hope to reach parents and children (that’s everyone, folks) who are just curious about the profession, because curiosity in our work means you’ve been touched by our work at some time.And if we’ve been successful in connecting with you, we’ve been successful.That’s what it’s all about.

“Connection” is a term we use a lot in the industry.Connecting people to wildlife.Connecting man to nature.Connecting the one child’s smile to the one silly, furry otter face.Connection is happiness.Connection is curiosity.Connection is inspiration.

We often say connections create action.In reality, we know that’s not exactly true. How many of us can say that after visiting the zoo and watching the grizzly bear play in the artificial fresh water stream, heart swelling with delight and the good ole’ warm fuzzies…How many of us can say we went home and started calling others in an effort to collect money to contribute to saving the grizzly habitat?Or, stopped using so much water?Or, even just recycled that water bottle you were carrying the entire trip to the zoo?Not many of us.Zoo designers’ work is important; don’t get me wrong.But, what we do is much subtler than we sometimes forget.Connections fill people with wonder, and, if for one second, they feel empathy for that critter they’re connecting with, we’ve succeeded.Empathy is what builds caring.Empathy is what builds action in the future.Empathy is what makes the busy young professional volunteer time at a wildlife rehabilitation center.Empathy is what makes a research scientist out of a video game addicted kid.

So, how can you get into Zoo Design?A great question.Mostly, it takes passion.I don’t know everything about the profession.In fact, I’m a fairly new comer to the game in comparison to some of the big dogs.But, I’ve been in a love/hate relationship with zoos all of my life, and I dug in as an adult.I started learning to really critique exhibits from the animal side of things, from the keeper sides of things, and, of course, from the visitor side of things.I started looking and learning.I started asking questions, and I haven’t stopped.I keep looking, and keep learning.Hopefully, with this project, I can teach a little and learn a lot.Hopefully, I will become a better zoo designer.Hopefully, I can create connections.